Feeding the behavioral revolution: Contributions of behavior analysis to nudging and vice versa

Carsta Simon () and Marco Tagliabue
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Carsta Simon: Department of Behavioural Sciences, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University
Marco Tagliabue: Department of Behavioural Sciences, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University

Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, 2018, vol. 2, issue 1, 91-97

Abstract: One of the long-standing disciplines specialized in behavioral prediction and change - but underrepresented in research on "nudging" - is behavior analysis. This article aims at feeding the behavioral revolution currently underway, by debating the relation between the relatively recent nudging concept and its underlying behavioral principles from a behavior analytic viewpoint. Our aim is to contribute towards a more comprehensive nudging theory and technology, connecting two traditionally separate fields. First, we define nudging from a behavioral analytic standpoint, integrating the traditional definitions in behavioral economics with behavior analysis. Then, we discuss more than 40-year old behavior analytic research on nudging in a controlled setting, investigating basic learning principles that make nudges effective in the laboratory. Closer cooperation between behavior analysists and other nudging theorists, for which this paper lays the groundwork, will enable scaling-up and sustaining such behavioral change at the policy level. By outlining the similarities and differences between nudging and behavior analysis, we investigate how both approaches can benefit from each other. In particular, nudging and traditional behavior analysis diverge in their respective focus on the antecedents and consequences of behavior. Our framework, viewing nudges as a subgroup of all environmental events that may influence behavior, has the potential to improve the choice architecture investigated by both disciplines. Finally, we submit that ethical considerations need to be addressed whenever there is (soft) behavioral control involved, and suggest additional avenues of research to further enhance behavioral scientific research.

Keywords: choice architecture; nudge; contingencies; behavior analysis; antecedents and consequences; important events (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 C90 Y80 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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